


Panacea

by treasureflowers



Series: No one die on me! We're all going home. [VALORANT] [7]
Category: VALORANT (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Coping Mechanisms, F/M, Flower Language, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Omen/Sage, Sage as a florist, Self-Harm, Sova as a psychologist, Therapy, Viper as Omen's relative, mention of depression, mentioned Phoenix/Jett, paraheal, sentrywire mentioned, slight Cypher/Killjoy, using agents' real name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 09:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30019350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treasureflowers/pseuds/treasureflowers
Summary: "Welcome to Panacea Florist. Is there anything I could help you with?"After all the years he spent in pain, he finally found his remedy. [Omen/Sage - paraheal]
Relationships: Omen/Sage (VALORANT)
Series: No one die on me! We're all going home. [VALORANT] [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066811
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Panacea

**Author's Note:**

> [Warning: mentioned of self-harm]
> 
> I'm back with a paraheal a.k.a OmenSage fanfiction! I'm sorry if it's kinda OOC but yeah.  
> Prompt/idea from: auideas.tumblr.com  
> Enjoy!

**VALORANT © Riot Games**

[ Omen/Sage ]

Alternate Universe - Mundane

* * *

Looking at the snow falling down the street, Fred sighed as he wrapped his body with the dark blue blanket. He sat on the window seat in his quiet small apartment while drinking his black morning coffee. That day was the last day in 2054 and many people were celebrating the new year’s eve with their beloved one as he could see on the street.

Fred turned his head to the photo frame on the coffee table. A photo of him with a black haired woman was there, standing beside the coffee mug. They were not smiling in the photo but it didn’t mean that they were in bad terms. The woman in the photo was Sabine, his only relative that was still in contact with him after all of his family members disowned him because he was _ill_. Too bad he couldn’t see her anymore as she got into a chemical accident in her workplace, Kingdom Corporation, taking her life away.

Seeing her picture made him remember Eriks, his psychologist’s, words right after he finished his counselling session four days ago.

_“You can start doing something else if you feel like hurting yourself again.”_

_“Do you have any recommendations?” He asked._

_“Maybe you can tear some papers, draw something, or do a new thing that you’ve never done.”_

_Something I’ve never done, huh?_

He had no idea what he should do until Aamir, his friend who knew about his condition, recommended him to buy and take care of plants. Putting down the coffee, he took a green pastel name card Aamir gave him two days ago. ‘Panacea Florist’ was written on the card alongside a name (he was sure it was the owner’s name), the store’s address, an email address, and an instagram username.

“This is actually not a bad idea.” He muttered to himself.

Fred had a little experience with gardening since he recalled his step-parents liked gardening back then. He only saw them doing it, not wanting to join them since it didn't interest him.

"I guess I'll give it a try."

* * *

Being drowned by commissions made Fred start to feel worn out and tired. Some of his customers were not patient to wait for the results. Nightmares kept haunting him in his sleep, causing him not being able to sleep well. Two weeks after the new year came, he had the urge to come back and hurt himself again. He put down his knitting tools and stared at the scissors besides him.

 _Someone_ in his mind telling him to take it.

Then, he noticed the card Aamir gave him. Instead of taking the scissors, he ended up grabbing the card. He took his sling bag and jacket before walking out of his apartment building. He took a bus for 30 minutes, then walked for 2 minutes before seeing the florist.

White small building dominated by glass welcomed him. A lot of flowers and plants lined up in the window and inside the building. Opening the door, a small bell rang and it made the woman behind the counter stop her previous activity, reading a book, and stood up to greet him.

“Welcome to Panacea Florist. Is there anything I could help you with?”

Her voice was soft and soothing.

“I … I want to buy a small plant, uh, to be put in a room,” said him.

“Is it your first time buying a plant?”

He nodded. “Yes. I have checked the plants but I can’t choose. Everything looks good.”

The woman walked from the counter and asked, “If you don’t mind, may I know how big is the room you just mentioned?”

“It’s a small room, 40 meter square.”

“Asparagus Fern will be great.”

She walked towards the left side of the room and Fred followed her from behind. The woman then took out a small flowerpot of Asparagus Fern. He looked at the small plant before asking, “How to take care of it?”

“It’s pretty easy. You need to put this near a window with good lighting from the morning sun. Make sure that you have a room with a temperature around 10 to 28 degree Celsius. You can water it twice a week or ….”

Fred didn’t really hear the rest of the explanation since his attention was focused on her. She sounded very calm but he could feel the passion and love from her words. _She really loves flowers and plants, isn’t she?_ He thought, not realizing the woman was calling him.

“Sir? Sir? Are you okay?”

Fred came back from his blank state and replied, “Yes, I’m okay. I will buy one.”

The black haired woman smiled and nodded. “Sure. Please wait for a while, Sir.”

She left with the flowerpot and he could see her putting the plant inside a box with holes on it. Fred received the box after paying.

“Thank you for coming! Please come back soon.”

And he did come back at the point his apartment became full of plants. He didn’t mind as he ended up becoming the owner’s friend. Her name was Jiang Yingyue, a Chinese florist who lived in the US for more than a decade. Motherly figure was one of the things Fred could think about her. He learnt a lot about her and she didn’t think that he was _weird_ , just like other people thought about him. It made a little happiness spark inside him.

* * *

Fred still met his psychologist several times to check the progress of his treatment. The Russian psychologist kept seeing improvement every time Fred came back there and he would be lying if he wasn’t happy with that. Eriks decreased the dosage of Fred's medicines.

“Good afternoon, Fred.” Eriks greeted him.

“Greetings.”

Fred sat down in front of the man. It was just like the normal day for him and whenever he came back to Eriks’ place to do his counselling session, he didn’t feel like being treated like a patient since Eriks knew how to make Fred comfortable with the treatment. For Fred, it felt like he just hung out with the Russian man.

“How’s your day? It’s been a while since the last time we met.”

“Pretty good. A little bit busy with doing commissions but I’m fine.”

"You do look pretty good. Would you like to share it with me?" Eriks asked.

"Do you remember telling me to do something else when I want to hurt myself?"

"I do."

Fred leant back to the chair and looked at the window. It was no longer winter and cold, spring was here. "Around three and a half months ago, I started to buy a plant every time I wanted to hurt myself. My friend, Aamir, recommended a place to buy plants and flowers. The florist was his wife's friend."

Eriks listened carefully without cutting his words.

"So, yeah, I started buying flowers there and I ended up becoming the florist's regular customer as that thought kept coming back then."

"Are those thoughts still coming back these days?" Eriks wrote something on his small note.

"Not really. Taking care of the plants is a good distraction."

Of course it was a good distraction. If only Eriks knew how many plants and flowers Fred had in his apartment. He would definitely be surprised.

"I'm glad that it works well." Eriks smiled. "Do you have anything else to share?"

Fred didn't answer right away. He froze in his place, seemed to think about something before answering, "No."

Their counselling session ended up 30 minutes after that conversation and Fred bid his goodbye before leaving the room. He had promised to drop by her flower shop since she needed his help. When he arrived, Yingyue (or Sage, as she asked him to call her that) had waited for him with a smile on her face.

"Welcome, Fred." The woman greeted her after hearing the bell ringing.

"Greetings, Sage."

"Come here and sit down first. I'll make tea for you."

She left and Fred was alone in the room full of ornaments and flowers. The shop didn't open today as she just received a pretty big commission. Fred used to come and help Yingyue if she had either big or small order at the point some of her regular customers recognized him. Yingyue came back with two cups of tea.

“What are we going to do with these flowers?” asked him.

“We are going to make mini dried flower bouquets. Have you heard about that?”

Fred shook his head. “No.”

“So, I have a bunch of dried flowers over here. We will create a mini bouquet by combining the flowers and put them in the small bottle over here. I created one as an example.” She took out a small glass bottle with a mini bouquet inside it. “Look.”

Fred held the glass bottle gently and observed it. “Beautiful.”

“It is.” She smiled. “Now, let me teach you how to make it.”

They spent hours finishing around 25 bottles of dried flowers bouquet. Fred didn’t mind spending time with Yingyue since she didn’t make the atmosphere between them awkward at all. She did a lot of things that pretty much changed the way he saw life. She taught him new things, such as making bouquets and the flower languages made him do something new that he had never done before.

So he was thinking of repaying her.

Fred got the idea after receiving his commission on an autumn night. This was something that he had never made before so he decided to give his first creation to her on her birthday.

"Sage."

"Hello, Fred." Yingyue smiled. "What brings you here?"

 _Now or never._ He thought.

Fred took out a medium sized box and put it in front of her. "For you."

"Eh? For me?"

The woman looked dumbfounded as she opened the box to see a small white knitted dreamcatcher. In the middle of the dreamcatcher, there was a beautiful flower-like pattern. White feathers also made the dreamcatcher prettier.

"It's … beautiful. Did you make it?" She took the dreamcatcher out and rubbed her fingers gently, feeling the fabric on it.

"Yes. I … made it since today is your birthday so, um, happy birthday, Sage."

She looked puzzled, trying to process his words. Then, it just clicked. “Wait, today is my birthday?”

“You don’t remember?”

Shaking her head, she answered and giggled sweetly after that, “No, I don’t. Well, I’m gonna treat you to lunch since it’s my birthday.”

Yingyue walked from the counter, followed by Fred. She turned the sign to ‘close’ and opened the door. Seeing the view in front of him, it felt like time had just frozen for a while and he couldn't hear anything. Yingyue stood there, holding the glass door, with the hustle and bustle of New York City in the background. Her ponytail was gently blown off by the autumn wind.

_Ah, damn it._

“Fred?”

“Yes. I’m coming.”

_I love her. I love her. Definitely._

_But she deserves better, right?_

* * *

In the cold winter, Fred entered the bakery and directly smelt the nice scent of fresh bread on the shelves. His feet brought him to the chocolate and cheese section. After picking several breads, he went to the cashier and spotted one of the owners that he knew pretty well, Lee Joon-hee or Jessica Lee, the Korean girl who was friends with Clarissa. Talking about Clarissa, Fred did see her and Aamir there, talking with Joon-hee. Clarissa left the place; it seemed she went to the bathroom.

“Hi, spooky boy.” Joon-hee greeted him with a playful grin.

Fred came towards their location. He snorted before replying, “Greetings, Jessica.”

“It’s been a while since I met you. You’re doing good?”

“Yes.”

“Great to hear that. I—”

Before Joon-hee could finish her sentence, they could hear someone calling her. It turned out that it was the cashier. Joon-hee looked at them and said, “I’ll get back to you guys later. It looks like there’s a problem there. See ya later!”

Then, the girl just left them fast like a wind, leaving only Fred and Aamir there.

Fred could feel Aamir’s gaze burning a hole on his face. He sighed and looked at the Moroccan man. “What is it?”

“Are you sure you are fine?” Aamir asked. “Since I don’t see you being fine, Fred.”

_Fuck him and his observant ass._

Fred really couldn’t hide anything from Aamir since they knew each other for years. Aamir was very observant and keen, resulting in him reading Fred like an open book. He was grateful for Aamir’s presence because he was the one who saved Fred from his own _thoughts_. However, on the other hand, he felt uneasy sometimes since nothing about him stayed hidden from Aamir.

“You can always talk to me if you need someone to talk to.” Aamir continued when Fred didn’t reply.

“Yes, I—” He paused, didn’t know where to start, “Do you remember the florist you introduced to me?”

“Sage? Yes, I remember. What’s wrong with— oh.”

Aamir could see Fred's emotionless face but he knew, deep down, the man hid tons of emotion related to this topic. He realized that the man was indeed in love with her but Fred's past, the trauma Fred held for years long, started haunting him again.

“She deserves better, Aamir.”

Instead of showing his concern, Aamir smiled. “You never know if you don’t try.”

“Aamir, you—”

He didn’t let Fred finish his words and just said, “Trust me. Just trust me, Fred.”

.

Fred spent days thinking about Aamir’s words, trying to make up his mind. He always made the choice that he thought was right, even if it called for a sacrifice. However this time, he couldn’t sacrifice his friendship with Yingyue. A fear that he hadn’t felt for a long time just came back.

Despite that, he stood in front of Panacea Florist’s glass door. Yingyue noticed his presence and waved her hand, asking him to come inside. His hand touched the cold door and pushed it.

“Hello, Fred.” She accosted. “Searching for flowers?”

The man nodded. “Do you have a pot of Moss Rosebuds?”

“... Moss Rosebuds? Yes, I have that.” Yingyue nodded, moving from the counter to one of the shelves. She took out a small pot of Moss Rosebuds and brought it back to the counter. “Do you need anything else?”

“No.” Fred took out his wallet.

“Do you want ... to confess to someone?”

Yingyue asked as she put the order in the computer. She didn’t get Fred's response, implying that the man probably didn’t want to answer. Thus, she just gave him the price and received the money from him. Instead of bringing the pot home, Yingyue saw Fred push the small pot towards her.

“For you.”

“Sorry …?” She looked stunned.

“I bought it for you, Sage.” The man looked away from her gaze. “Being left in the dark for so long, meeting you is like seeing a tint of light, a glimpse of cure. I realize that—”

Fred halted, finding it really hard to convey his feelings into words since he was not good at it. He was never a good talker and not feeling love for a long time made it even worse. However, the only thing he knew was that she saved and cured him.

“I love you, Sage.”

Yingyue was dumbstruck, not being able to respond or say anything.

After freezing for 10 seconds straight, Yingyue finally said, “Could you … give me time to think?”

He agreed. He didn’t mind waiting since he was used to it. He spent his life waiting for uncertain things, the recognition from his family, the happiness and love that he thought he would never get. “Okay.”

“Tomorrow,” She paused, “could you come here at 5 p.m.?”

The day after that, Fred did come to Panacea Florist, seeing Yingyue wiping the window. Her hair was tied into a half-up ponytail, not the regular ponytail. He noticed she was sweating a little but her face, in fact, still looked mesmerizing. She greeted him and Fred stepped forward to enter the building.

“I’ll help.” Fred said after putting his sling bag on the chair.

“Ah, thank you so much.”

Awkward silence filled the room. It was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Neither Yingyue nor Fred started a conversation until they finished cleaning up the store.

"Take a seat. I will get something." She smiled and went inside.

Not taking a long time, Yingyue came back with a bottle of mineral water and a small pot of miniature white and red roses. He took the bottle from her after muttering a 'thank you'. His gaze now fixed to the pot on the table.

_White and red roses?_

“I taught you about flower language before.” Yingyue said. “I think you know the individual meaning of white and red rose.”

Fred stayed quiet.

“However, I haven’t told you the meaning of white and red roses if they are combined in one bouquet or flower pot.”

Fred knew that both white and red roses meant something nice but there was a tint of fear that they didn’t mean something good.

“This is my answer to the flower you gave me.”

“What is … the meaning of it?”

“Unity. White and red roses in the same bouquet or pot means … unity.”

_Unity?_

Fred took his time to process and interpret what she had just said. Gazing at the woman, she only gave him a soft smile and a nod. Fred couldn’t help but let out a relief sigh. The burden in his heart was all gone just by seeing her and getting her answer.

“Let’s walk together on the flowery road, Fred.”

She was indeed his cure; his only remedy.

**Author's Note:**

> Panacea /ˌpanəˈsēə/ (n) a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases.
> 
> Hanakotoba:  
> 1\. Moss Rosebuds: confessions of love  
> 2\. White Roses: purity, innocence, and youthfulness; a new beginning and everlasting love  
> 3\. Red Roses: passion, true love, romance; "I love you"  
> 4\. White and Red Roses combined: unity


End file.
